Why It Took 23 Yrs to Link Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance to This Scrap of Metal (opens in new tab)

From http://tighar.org/wiki/2-2-V-1 (http://tighar.org/aw/mediawiki/index.php?title=2-2-V-1&oldid... if the wiki page gets edited):

> "All aspects of the artifact, including the rivet pattern, fit closely with a section of the belly on the right hand side of the aircraft between stations 269 5/8ths and 293 5/8ths..."

My recollection is that they ultimately decided that the patch did not match the section of the belly described in the quote. It's only been in the last couple of months that they started thinking that the patch might have been one that covered the window.

It is also worth noting that the island in question has been periodically inhabited for much of the century prior to TIGHAR beginning its investigation, so the discovery of numerous artifacts is unsurprising, but it hasn't stopped them from trying to link everything they find to Earhart. What's more, the records of radio communication with the aircraft don't support the notion that they would have landed so far off course.

Either way, I'm curious if they will find anything with an ROV. Coral reefs in the middle of the ocean don't provide the necessary protection to preserve an artifact like her aircraft. Which would explain why a single piece was found washed up on an island.

Aircraft from that era were quite solid and they did not have a pressurized hull. The Lockheed Electra and other similar aircraft from the same era flew in wartime operations and regularly came back full of holes.

A single window broken cover should not bring an otherwise sound 1930s era aircraft down.